What if I told you
by smaragdbird
Summary: Bruce feels uncomfortable around Tony when Tony is drunk but doesn't say anything because Tony has done so much for him already. (Bruce/Tony)


Bruce tried. If he could he went out of his way not to cross paths with Tony when he was drunk or coming home from a party or was hosting a party. But considering that Tony liked to spend time in Bruce's company that strategy didn't work out as often as Bruce would have liked.

When Tony was drunk he wasn't staggering but he wasn't walking as swiftly as usual either. He didn't slur his words just articulated them less. He didn't yell or curse or hit people. It actually wasn't so much Tony's behaviour that made Bruce uncomfortable but the smell of alcohol on his breath.

Bruce didn't drink. He made an effort to stay away from anything that smelled like an alcoholic drink in the first place. For some reason champagne was the worst, followed by whiskey even though his father had never drunken champagne. Just a whiff of it and he was back in that house, making himself as small as possible under his father's fists and cruel words.

He never said anything because he knew that unlike his father Tony wasn't an alcoholic. He could stop. He would stop if Bruce asked him.

Bruce absolutely didn't want to ask him.

Tony had been nothing but generous and kind to him, challenging his intellect and the way he had been dealing with the Hulk. The last thing Bruce wanted to do was to impose more of his issues on Tony. Not when he wouldn't even be here in the first place if he hadn't met Tony.

"Dr. Banner?" Came Jarvis' voice out of nowhere, interrupting his musings.

"Yes?"

"Mr. Stark requests you in the lab. He said the Petri dishes seemed to have turned purple."

If that was true Bruce was going to kill Tony before the Other Guy even had a chance of slipping out and protecting him. Those cultures had taken numerous tries to get them growing and Bruce wasn't sure if he would manage it a second time.

/

"Dr. Banner, just the man I wanted to see", Tony drawled, his legs suggestively spread.

"Jarvis told me you wanted to see me?" Bruce asked. There was a slight chance that Tony had drunk enough last night to forget everything that happened.

"So about last night – "Tony started and of course Bruce wasn't that lucky.

"What about it?"

"Did I do something or say something?" That he sounded genuinely worried made Bruce want to apologize but that would have led to a conversation that Bruce didn't want to have.

"Yes, Tony, I'm living with you because I absolutely despise it when you kiss me." Every now and then his unwise sarcasm slipped out at inopportune moments. Tony stared at him for a second then cracked a smile.

"Good one", he grinned. "But to come back to my question, why did you run?"

"It's nothing Tony, really. Some old memories. Nothing important", he kissed Tony before he could answer. "Now, what have you done to my bacterial cultures?" Bruce asked and did his best to glare at Tony.

/

"You look like something concerns you my friend", Thor said when he came to visit. He had brought a Nirnroot plant for Bruce, a fern-like shimmering thing that chimed when another organism came close to it. Needless to say that Bruce was more than a little fascinated and Tony would probably need all his manly wiles to get him into bed tonight.

"It's nothing", Tony tried to brush him off.

"Something that has to do with Bruce", Thor added and Tony cursed himself for forgetting that Thor could be quite insightful if the other person wasn't Loki.

"He's been weird last night. I don't know", Tony shrugged as if it wasn't a big deal.

"Last night?" Thor asked. "I was surprised to see you alone at the party."

"Bruce doesn't like parties", Tony shrugged again. This time he meant it. The High Society of New York knew of course who Bruce really was and more often than not treated him accordingly. "I mean he doesn't drink either. It's not much fun to see me get wasted when you're not three sheets to the wind yourself."

"He told me that he doesn't drink because the smell reminds him of his father", Thor said quietly.

Tony could have face-palmed. That had been so glaringly obvious that he should probably have his certified genius revoked.

"Would you excuse me?" Tony asked, already halfway out of the door.

"Of course", Thor replied with a smile.

/

"This plant is amazing", Bruce said as soon as Tony walked into the lab. "It seems to be able to bend the light around itself somehow."

And while that was doubtlessly fascinating, it didn't interest Tony at all in this moment.

"Why didn't you tell me that you don't like me drinking?" Tony asked, trying to keep his voice neutral. "I could have done something.

Bruce stared at him for a moment before he answered. "I didn't say anything because it's stupid. I know you're nothing like my father. I don't want you to change something you like just because I feel uncomfortable."

"I want you to lose that martyr complex. I'd happily trade that against my drinking."

"You like drinking", Bruce pointed out.

Tony shrugged. "I like you more."

"You'll hate me for-"

"-and again with the martyr", Tony interrupted him. "We can work around this. I can sleep it off on a lower floor or crash at Pepper's and Happy's place. Or Jarvis could simply block my access to whatever floor you're in when I'm coming back.

"I can't ask this of you, Tony. You've done too much for me already."

"You're not asking. I'm offering. Look," Tony said and stepped closer, placing his hands on Bruce's hips, "I want you to be happy, being here, with me."

"I am happy", Bruce assured him. "I'm just not very good at this."

"We're doomed then"; Tony grinned, moving his hands around Bruce's waist and folded them in the small of his back. "Want to try anyway?"

"Yeah", Bruce said simply. "I do."


End file.
